[GPSCC-chat] Legal Opinion About DR's Behavior: Was Registrar Of Voters Still Counting Signatures, and one agenda item
John Thielking
pagesincolor at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 27 10:24:32 PST 2014
I sent an e-mail to Ed Frey (an attorney in Santa Cruz) asking him about Diane Ritchie, no response yet. I called my Legal Shield attorneys and I don't have standing to ask my questions of them. So I looked up Just Answer/legal on the Internet and this is what they had to say:
My Questions:
There is a Judge up for re-election
in Santa Clara County, CA. It was alleged by a local newspaper that
she did two things that may be inappropriate: 1) She allowed a
landlord to act as an ESL translator for a tenant in a
landlord-tenant dispute and 2) She asked a defendant out on a date
(most likely after court proceedings were finished). Are either one
of these items grounds to be concerned either legally or ethically
about her objectivity and other performances as a Judge?
Optional Information:
Country relating to Question: United
States
State (if USA): California
What have you tried so far?:
I don't have standing to ask these questions of my attorneys in my
Legal Shield plan. An Internet search returns nothing.
You have received an Answer!
From Dimitry
K., Esq.
Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:38 PM EST
Thank you for your question. Please permit me to assist you with
your concerns.
To answer directly, the first issue is potentially a non-issue if
there were other native speakers in the courtroom and they did not
object to the translation. While each party should have their own
translator, the obligation to get one is on that party and not the
judge. Hence, asking someone within the courts to translate, while
irregular, is not a violation.
The second claim is a bit more serious. Provided the case was
wholly over, which means no further motions could be filed (such a a
motion for reconsideration and so forth), the case is over, and both
parties are effectively civilians. A judge cannot show favoritism and
if he 'liked' this person, the decision for that whole case may be
questionable. While ethically it is not a violation, it does appear
to be unethical--there is a tinge of impropriety where there really
was none. So that, from a political perspective, may be trouble.
Hope that helps.
Edited by Dimitry K., Esq. on
2/27/2014 at 12:38 PM EST
Sincerely,
Dimitry, Esq.
So the question for us as the Green Party Of Santa Clara County is are we going to act like every other Democratic and Republican org out there and worry that a female judge asking a male defendant out for coffee (a gay defendant by the way) after the case is over is going to blow up into a big sex scandal like Anthony Weiner, or are we going to be a bit more circumspect and objective and endorse a judge for re-election even though she appears to be human?
John Thielking
________________________________
From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>; "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>; "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 10:14 PM
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Registrar Of Voters Still Counting Signatures, and one agenda item
Spencer,
Both Pete and I have read that Mercury News article. However, you shouldn't be so ready to believe everything you read in the Mercury News. As you are so fond of pointing out, we need citizen journalists in place of what passes for the mainstream media. Also, what do you know about courtroom procedures? Thanks.
John Thielking
________________________________
From: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com>
To: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>; "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>; "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 9:05 PM
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Registrar Of Voters Still Counting Signatures, and one agenda item
Have you seen what the Mercury wrote about Diane Ritchie
from Feb. 1, 2014
(www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_25044258/rookie-san-jose-judge-still-struggles-job-sources)? "In one case, Ritchie asked a landlord to serve as a translator for a tenant who was complaining about substandard conditions; in another, she publicly asked a former client appearing before her on petty theft charges for his phone number so they could meet socially. ... She ... invited the defendant into her chambers and [then] took him out to lunch".
She may "stick up for the little people", but she needs to
watch courtroom protocol: With the landlord-tenant dispute, if a
translator was needed and was not available, I think she should
have ordered a continuance so one could be located. Her failure
to do so suggests bias in favor of the landlord. With the former
client accused of petty theft, she should have recused herself.
If this report is accurate, Ritchie's behavior raises
serious questions about her impartiality and ability to rule based
on the law -- and her ability to serve responsibly as a judge.
Spencer
On 2/26/2014 8:34 PM, John Thielking wrote:
As of yesterday the Registrar Of Voters is still counting the Green Party signatures that were turned in, according to my room mate Pete. Does anyone else have a more recent update?
>
>Also, Pete wants to talk about possibly endorsing Diane Ritchie
for Judge for Santa Clara Valley. He had a good experience with
her and believes that she sticks up for the little people.
>
>John Thielking
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
> From: "perrysandy at aol.com" <perrysandy at aol.com>
>To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 10:23 AM
>Subject: [GPSCC-chat] PROPOSED AGENDA GPSCC 2-27-14
>
>
>
>Please send suggested amendments or additions. Thanks!
>
>
>Sandy
>
>
>
>Green Party Meeting Thursday, Feb 27, 2014
>
>7:00-7:30 Nancy Neff from California Clean Money Campaign will speak on SB 27 and SB 52.
>
>7:30 Meeting starts. Identify Facilitator, Note Taker, Vibes Watcher, Time Keeper, and Agenda Preparer for February.
>
>7:40
Introductions, announcements, additions or corrections to agenda
>
>7:55 Treasurer's report and hat passing
> PO
Box report: Andrea
>
>8:05 Discuss the following proposal sent to the Discuss list:
>
>I also believe we should consider a suggestion made by Drew a while ago: to grow the Green Party in small local committees as we are attempting to do with some small success at De Anza. To have the main (tedious) business of the Party handled by the County Council in a separate meeting (open to any member). To have our monthly membership meeting be an educational or organizing event geared toward new members and prospective members, with films, lectures, or actions, and broadly publicized.
>
>8:40 Evaluate our candidate signature campaign and lessons learned.
>
>8:55 Report on single payer health care work. Sandy
>
>9:05 Report on climate change work.
>
>9:15 Whether or not to host a GPCA Plenary – Warner.
>
>9:25 Adjourn
>_______________________________________________
>sosfbay-discuss mailing list
>sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph: 408-655-4567
web: www.structuremonitoring.com
_______________________________________________
sosfbay-discuss mailing list
sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/sosfbay-discuss_lists.cagreens.org/attachments/20140227/5a9e44f6/attachment.html>
More information about the sosfbay-discuss
mailing list